Infant&#39;s training chair



p 1942- M. a. EIDSON I I 2394,36

INFANTS TRAINING CHAIR Filed Aug. 3, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 1,1942. M, B, EIDSON ma mas INFANTS TRAINING CHAIR Filed Aug. 5, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2 n A55 m I s 9 lfgwuwvtom 1 W Maw-z Jean Patente cl Sept.1, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates generally to the class of furniture and pertainsparticularly to improvements in childrens furniture.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a childsarticle of furniture which is designed to facilitate the training of achild fromthe time that it is very young, in the use of the necessaryreceptacles in answering the calls or requirements, of nature.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an article offurniture which makes it possible to start the necessary training of thechild when it is too small to sit upright, the article being designed sothat as the child grows and becomes stronger and better able to managehis body, he can be gradually brought to an upright or sitting position,thereby teaching the child the proper use of the stool from a 'veryearly age.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an article offurniture of the character stated which is designed in a novel manner tosupport a chamber receptacle for its use as an article of sanitation orfor use as an ordinary chair or highchair in which an infant may sitwhile being fed or at other times.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding,however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strictconformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed ormodified so long as such changes or modifications mark no materialdeparture from the salient features of the invention as expressed in theappended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a View in side elevation of the chair the back lowered andwith the scat open to re-- ceive a chamber receptacle.

Fig. is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a View of the structure lowered or flattened out as shown inFig. 4, in bottom plan.

Fig. '7 is a view in perspective of the deflector which is shown appliedin Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral Idesignates a pair of legs for the chair, which legs are in the form ofrelatively long vertically disposed panels which extend from the frontto the rear of the chair and each of which is formed with a rearwardlydownwardly sloping top edge 2 which merges with a sharply downwardlyinclined top edge portion 2' which forms a terminal continuation of themajor slightly inclined top edge portion 2. These side legs I areconnected by the transverse panel or apron 3, as shown most clearly inFigs. 5 and 6.

Upon the top edge portions 2 of the legs there is supported the seatbody 4 which is made up of the upper and lower panel portions 5 and 6,respectively. The upper panel portion has the central circular opening 1formed therethrough and formed through the lower seat panel 6 is thecentral opening 8 which is concentric with the opening I but is ofslightly smaller diameterso that there is formed the shoulder 9, Theseopenings 1 and f the seat panels or seat sections merge into therelatively narrow forwardly extending slot In which is formed throughboth portions of the seat and which opens through the forward or frontedge thereof, as shown in 'Fig. 4. At the forward end of the slot Hi thelower seat portion 6 is provided with the inwardly extending ears I I.There is thus formed through the seat body a shouldered opening ofsubstantially circular form which is designed to have disposed thereinthe flangedtop of a chamber receptacle which is shown in broken lines inFig. 5 and indicated by the numeral [2, the flange of this receptacleresting upon the shoulder 9 below the plane of the top of the seat. Bythe provision of the slot Ill, the receptacle can be convenientlylowered in position, the slot allowing for the passing of the handle ofthe receptacle so that it will be below the seat and out of the way whenthe receptacle is in place. The slot additionally provides for themaintenance of the seat in a sanitary condition as it serves to preventthe wetting of the forward part of the seat body when the same is beingused.

When it is desired to use the chair as a chair rather than as an articleof sanitation, the seat opening together with the slot may be closed bythe placing therein of the fill-out panel l3, which panel is formed toenter the opening I and rest upon the shoulder 9 and to be supported atits forward end by the ears I l. The top of the fillside of the chair.

out panel l3 will be flush with the top surface of the seat.

Pivotally attached to the rear edge of the seat 4 by hinges I4, is aback l5 which has extending longitudinally of its rear side adjacenteach 1ongitudinal edge, a reinforcing cleat l6. These cleats are angledat their lower ends, as indicated at H, so that when the back is loweredto substantially a horizontal position the cleats, which are inalinement with the legpanels I will come substantially into contact withthe sloping rear edge portions 2 of such panels and may, if desired, besupported thereon.

For the maintenance of the back in lowered position, there are providedthe supporting legs 3, each of which is pivotally attached as at I9, toa cleat l6 adjacent the outer or upper end thereof. These legs arepreferably coupled'between their outer ends and a reinforcing bar whichis secured across the back of the seat at substantially the transversecenter thereof, by the hinged links or desk lid braces 2|.

The numeral 22 designates the arms at the sides of the chair. Each ofthese arms is in two sections, one section being indicated by-thenumeral 23 and constituting theforward part of the arm which assumessubstantially a vertical position when the chair back is upright, whilethe other section which is indicatedbythe numeral 24, assumes asubstantially horizontal position when the back is upright.

The two sections of the arms are hingedly joined together as indicatedat 25, the hinge being disposed upon the under sides of the sections sothat the arms may be relatively moved from an alinedsrelation to anangular relation.

The forward end of the forward section 23 of each arm is provided withthe angularly extending ear 26 which is pivotally attached, asat 2'!, t0the forward upper part of the adjacent leg panel I upon the outer sidethereof, as shown in Fig. 1.

seat back [5 is lowered to the position shown in Fig. 5, the twoportions of each arm move into alined position-and form a horizontalrail at the This horizontal rail functions as aprotective means when thechair is used for yery young babies, preventing the baby from rollingoff the side of the chair.

In the under-edge of the upper portion-24 of each arm there is-provideda key-hole-shaped slot 33 which facilitates the attachment to the armsof the tray unit indicated generally by the numeral 34. s This unitcomprises the tray proper 35 and the rearwardly extending side arms 35,each of which carries uponits inner side the transversely directed shortsemi-cylindrical pin 31. The radius of this pin 3'! carried by each arm36 of the tray is such that it may snugly pass through the narrowportion of a key-hole slot .33 and the flat side of the pin extendslongitudinally of the supporting arm so that, as is shown in Fig. 3, itis necessary that the tray arms be vertically disposed inorder that thepins may be slipped into their respective key-hole slots and after theyhave been moved into the larger ends of the slots, they may then berotated so as to permit the tray to be swung forwardly and downwardly torest upon the upper ends of the forward portions 23 of the arms.Naturally when the back of the chair is lowered, the tray will beremoved as it cannot be used when the chair is so adjusted.

While the chair structure has been described as being designed tosupport a chamber receptacle, it is possible for it to be used by beingplaced directly upon a toilet seat and when the chair is to be used forthe training of male children and placed upon the toilet stool or seat,it is desirable that there be employed a deflector shield such as isshown in Fig. 7. Such shields, here indicated generally by the numeral38, are com- -monly employed upon childrens toilet chairs and suchdeflector in itself forms no part of the present invention. However, theformation of the slot I0 leading forwardly from the seatopening to theforward edge of the seat is made of the proper width so that such adeflector may be disposed between the edges of the slot and the arms 39which the. deflector carries may be conveniently secured to the underside of the seat in the manner illustrated.

The upper or inner portion of each armis provided with a slot 40 and theadjacent cleat is provided with a similar slot 4|. By means of theseslots, a suitable restraining strap may be passed around the back ofthechair and in front of the body of the infant and connected with thearms as a safety means for preventing the infant from falling forwardlyout of the chair when the same is used with the back upright.

From the foregoing, it .will be readily apparent that by the use of thepresent device, the training of infants in the use of the stool orchamber receptacle may be started at a very early age since by loweringthe back of the chair, the infant can be put to the stool before it isable to sit up or support itself in upright position for this purpose.As the infant grows older, the back of the chair can be gradually raiseduntil the infant-has learned to make use of the receptacle in the normalupright position. In addition to its use as a trainer for infants, thechair, by-the application to the seat of the fill-out panel 13, maybeused as a chair or as a convenient means for feeding the infant when thetray 34 is attached to the arms.

What is claimed is:

1. An infant training chair, comprising a seat having an opening thereinfor the reception of a receptacle and having supporting legs, a backhingedly attached to the rear part of the seat to be oscillated from avertical position to substantially a horizontal position, and arms atthesides of the chair each consisting of a long forward portion and a longtop portion, a hinge connection between adjacent ends of the portions ofeach arm, said arm portions at their remote ends having angularextensions, a pivotal connection between the angular extension of eacharm forward portion and the adjacent side of the seat, and a pivotalconnection between the angular extension of each of the horizontalportions and the adjacent side of the back, said arm portions assumingan angular relation when the back is raised and moving into an alinedrelation when the back is lowered to the said horizontal position inwhich latter position the alined portions of the arms are supported bythe angular extensions thereof in a position above the tops of the seatand back.

2. An infant training chair, comprising a seat having an opening thereinfor the reception of a receptacle and having supporting legs, a backhingedly attached to the rear part of the seat to be oscillated from avertical position to substantially a horizontal position, and arms atthe sides of the chair each consisting of a long forward portion and along top portion, a hinge connection between adjacent ends of theportions of each arm, said arm portions at their remote ends havingangular extensions, a pivotal connection between the angular extensionof each arm forward portion and the adjacent side of the seat, a pivotalconnection between the angular extension of each of the horizontalportions and the adjacent side of the back, said arm portions assumingan angular relation when the back is raised and moving into an alinedrelation when the back is lowered to the said horizontal position inwhich latter position the alined portions of the arms are supported bythe angular extensions thereof in a position above the tops of the seatand back, and a fill-out panel adapted to position within the seatopening to convert the seat into a solid supporting body.

3. A chair of the character stated comprising a seat, a back hingedlycoupled thereto to be swung from an upright position to a loweredposition in which it extends rearwardly from the seat, an arm at eachside of the seat comprising two hingedly coupled portions, and means atthe remote ends of the portions of each arm pivotally coupling oneportion with the seat and the other portion with the back, which is soconstructed and arranged that upon swinging the back to lowered positionthe two portions of each arm will be shifted from an angular relation toan end to end alined relation and maintained at an elevation to extendabove the top of the seat and back to form a side guard rail.

4. A chair of the character stated comprising a seat, a back hingedlycoupled thereto to be swung from an upright position to a loweredposition in which it extends rearwardly from the seat, an arm at eachside of the seat comprsing two hingedly coupled portions, a lateralextention at the remote ends of the two portions of each arm, and apivotal connection between the lateral extention of one portion of eacharm and said seat, and a pivotal connection between the lateralextension of the other portion and said back, said arm portions beingshifted from an angular relation to an end aligned relation uponswinging the back to lowered'position and. said lateral extensionsfunctioning to elevate the aligned portions above the seat and back toform a side guard rail.

MARSHALL B. EIDSON.

